A Stay at Hotel Jen Manila

I remember I was hell-bent on finishing some tasks and beating writing deadlines that weekend so I deemed that a hotel stay was just perfect. I'll be away from the usual distraction when I work at home. So I was not expecting this stay at Hotel Jen Manila to be enjoyable since I need to get some work done. 

Little did I know, Hotel Jen Manila has a palpable charm and knack for making their guests' stay enjoyable and relaxing regardless if the guests are staying for business or some RnR.

Who would have thought that a weekend which was expected to be work-filled turned out to be one of my most satisfying hotel stays to date? I was able to get some work done and enjoyed what Hotel Jen has to offer as well. Talk about work-life balance, hey.

When staying at Hotel Jen Manila, it is highly recommended to book one of their Club Rooms as it grants access to the 19th floor's Club Lounge. The amazing Club Lounge, if I do say so my self. But we will get to that later as we go along. 

36sqm in size, the Club Room I stayed in was spacious enough for two adults. 

It's a room with a view of the beautiful Manila bay and the busy Roxas Blvd. The view during sunrise and sunset was amazing, but the in-between hours wasn't all that bad either. I never thought that watching rushing vehicles on a busy street at the comfort of a quiet room could be so surprisingly - relaxing.

As published on their website, Club Room features and amenities include either king-sized bed or two twin beds, en-suit bathroom, fast and free wifi, movie channels, satellite/cable television, IDD, full-size executie writing desk, computer data port, 220 VAC universal outlets, mini refrigerator, electronic safe, hairdryer, free mineral water, 24-hour room service, tea and coffee station, and mini bar.

For a weekend stay, I find those features and amenities enough to consider the place my home away from home for that weekend.

There's the usual things one may expect while staying at a hotel and should the guest need something else, they may just request it at Hotel Jen's service center. I remember calling them to request for some electronic stuff which I need for my laptop and the kindly hotel staff event sent their IT staff to check if I need assistance with the gadget. Impressive service, really.

I guess that is one of Hotel Jen's strongest suit - the service is very sincere and warm. Take for instance the fresh fruit treats waiting for us inside the room's mini ref. All cleaned up and cut up into bite size. Such a refreshing welcome gesture. 

Now one of the many things I find rather unique and cute about Hotel Jen is their modern approach to their mini bar. Instead of the usual mini bar goodies set up, theirs are kept inside a brown bag and everything is reasonably priced.

Now I have mentioned in my previous hotel staycation blog post how important bathroom is to me whether at home or when staying in a hotel. While the bathroom at our room in Hotel Jen is a tad small for my liking, I still appreciate that it has bathtub, clean, and complete with toiletries. Plus, I love the dark tone of it.

 

I could inside the room and still be a happy camper but there are other things to explore within Hotel Jen's vicinity 

There's the swimming pool which opens from 7am to 9pm. Cameras are not allowed so I was only able to take a quick snapshot with the little view I got from afar. Nonetheless, I checked the pool and find it clean and good enough for a relaxing swim.

There is also the fitness center for those who do not want to skip their gym time while staying at Hotel Jen. There's decent variety of gym equipment so I am guessing any afficionado will be happy enough to stay for an hour or two.

There's also a separate smoking lounge located on the 19th floor for those who wants to have their ciggy break. I checked the place out and saw that the view from there was also quite impressive. Although the wifi is a bit intermittent on this particular spot. 

 

Now the Club Lounge. I must say that an access to the Club Lounge will really make your stay at Hotel Jen well worth it. As mentioned, access to Club Lounge is given to those who booked for Club Rooms.

Perks that comes with Club Room access includes exclusive check-in and check-out at the Club Lounge for fast and transactions, familiar and friendly staff to help you get the most out of your stay, free 2-hour use of private meeting room (bookable in advance), complimentary internet access, free one-time laser printing of five pages black and white, press reader access to over 2,500 newspaper and magazines, free non-alcoholic drinks during the daily buffet breakfast (6am to 10:30am), afternoon tea (2pm to 4pm), and sunset cocktails (5pm to 7pm). 

One of Hotel Jen's in-house all day dining restaurants is Latitude. It offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffets open for hotel guests and walk-ins. I had my breakfast buffet at The Club Lounge but I had a lunch buffet at Latitude to check out the offerings. Hopefully I can share it on a separate blog post when time permits. 

If one hankers for an really good and authentic Japanese cuisine while staying at Hotel Jen Manila, look no further because Kitsho Japanese Restaurant and Sake Bar will definitely satisfy. I love this Japanese restaurant really I have eaten here couple of times before and hopefully I could find sometime to share a blog post about Kitsho here on the blog soon. 

All in all, I find my stay at Hotel Jen Manila really impressive. Its re-branding from Traders Hotel to Hotel Jen really made a great impact so it is really good move by the Shangri-la group. As mentioned, it was one of my most enjoyable hotel stays by far and I am looking forward to staying again at Hotel Jen Manila sometime soon. 

Hotel Jen Manila
Address: 3001 Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City,
Manila, Philippines
Contact No.: +63 2 7958888
Email: hjm@hoteljen.com
website: hoteljen.com/manila